Worcester school board 'happy' with report

Friday

Sep 6, 2013 at 6:00 AMSep 6, 2013 at 1:43 PM

By Jacqueline Reis, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — The School Committee Thursday night welcomed a state contractor's report on the district's efforts to improve its lowest performing schools, with Mayor Joseph M. Petty thanking administrators and educators for their work.

"It looks like we have something to be happy for," Mr. Petty said.

The state released the district report from contractor SchoolWorks last week. The report, which found more reason for praise than concern, was an attempt to gauge whether the district can support and continue improvement at its three Level 4 schools, Chandler Elementary Community, Union Hill and Burncoat Street Preparatory. The report will be part of what state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester considers as he decides whether to take Chandler Elementary and Union Hill out of Level 4 status this fall.

Burncoat Street Preparatory School is in only its second year of a three-year improvement effort.

SchoolWorks found much that was positive at the district level, from the way the district hires staff to the way it spends its money, but it also stated that more work needed to be done to finish mapping out curriculum and ensure instruction consistently promotes higher-order thinking.

Those findings were echoed at the school levels in SchoolWorks reports on each of the Level 4 schools, where it found that curriculums needed to be more fully developed and implemented. While Chandler Elementary was praised for beginning to use curriculum maps and lesson plans aligned to the state standards, for instance, it was also cited as needing improvement because those maps were not yet complete when the team visited in March.

Superintendent Melinda J. Boone and Chief Academic Officer Marco Rodrigues said they agreed with the assessment, although they noted that progress has been made since then.

School Committee member Jack L. Foley called the reports "dense" but noted that they reflected the district's efforts. Committee member Tracy O'Connell Novick agreed with the "dense" assessment but feared the reports had not recognized all of the positives, such as improved school climate and civility in the schools' neighborhoods.

Committee member John F. Monfredo said he believes the schools will move out of Level 4 status this year.

Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System standardized test scores, and measures derived from them, will also be part of the Level 4 determination, and those scores are due out within weeks.

In other business, the committee briefly discussed that some of the city's schools will participate in a pilot testing for a new standardized test developed by a consortium of 19 states. The program is known as PARCC, for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Committee member Donna Colorio said she is worried about data collection, cost, infrastructure and the loss of instructional time, and Ms. Boone said she would provide more details when she knows more.